My 'found' long billed corella

by Alison
(Geraldton, Western Australia)

Henry

Hi

After searching high and low for the owners but to no luck my friends gave me a long billed corella. I have figured out my birds name is Henry but he has what people have described to me as a 'breeding ring' around his left leg. What do the numbers mean on the ring?

Regards

ALison

Comments for My 'found' long billed corella

Congrats on acquiring such a gorgeous parrot! Hopefully, Henry's been taken to an Avian Vet so he can be checked for internal/external parasites and infections. Since he was a found bird, there is a possibility he has internal parasites and maybe a bacterial infection. It would be a great idea to take him to vet for a checkup, so you know he does not have any "hidden" problems to keep him from being happy and healthy.

The rings on legs are breeder's identification, and they use either letters, numbers or a combination of both. Breeders have to keep records of who is who especially if breeding more than one pair of birds. Even then, they have to keep notes on how many per nest, daily weight and any other pertinent information about the babies.

In the old days of importation, these rings were put on in Quarantine stations and usually did not have any numbers. The rings were to show that birds had been through quarantine before being sold to a pet store. Your bird was, most likely, raised in captivity, and the ring is just for identification. Your Avian vet can remove the ring, if you'd like, when you take him for a visit. I don't like the rings as they can cause problems in case bird's leg is hurt or swollen.They can also potentially get caught on toy rope or a piece of wire. Vet can take ring off with a pair of bolt cutters which does not hurt your bird and gets the ring off. You can keep the ring if you wish.

Hope this helps, and again, you are very fortunate to have such a lovely bird as Henry!Linda USA